Adrien de Gerlache (1866-1934), born in Belgium, was the commander of the first truly scientific Antarctic expedition.
It was the most important expedition to the area between the late 19th century and World War I. Gerlache took his expedition to the Pacific Ocean side of the Antarctic Peninsula, became caught in the ice, and spent the winter of 1897-98 there.
The expedition was made possible with the encouragement of the International Geographical Congress and other expeditions were sent out by several different nations, including Britain, commanded by Robert Scott and Carsten Borchgrevink (1864-1934) and Germany, commanded by Erich von Drygalski (1865-1949).